When people announce "X accepts bitcoin! Pmg!" does this usually just mean that they have started using bitpay? Because if that's all that happens, we are effectively just making the world's largest middle man, not too different from say....PAYPAL.
My question being: Do any of these merchants actually KEEP the fucking btc?
not a significant number, no. that is a good thing.
currency is rather different from hard goods. its value is not derived from stock levels, but from flow. no flow, no value. long term holders don't care much about the price, which is a temporary condition resulting from instantaneous supply and demand. they care more about value, which is a long term attractor of price, and determines the
sustainable price levels.
Bitpay..Paypal...blah blah blah...they are all just banks that offer a currency exchange service. I mean many times a currency exchange also offers banking services. Get an account at one of the Bitcoin exchanges and you will find that out real quick.
I think that what this kind of news really shows is how the currency exchanges out there have been making a $%^&#$% killing on planet wide currency transactions.
So there is really nothing new here...if you want to move currency from one form to another be prepared to pay.
Regarding "X accepting bitcoin" what they hold has more to do with who their bank is more than anything. When 51% of their transactions end up being in Bitcoin, be prepared for some of these "X's" to cut out the banks and the exchanges...hire some bank and exchange peeps of their own...and be their own bank...just like the rest of us Bitcoin holders.
